Italy has the world’s richest variety of individual wine styles, distinctive terroirs and indigenous grape varieties

The World Atlas of Wine, 7th Edition

The mission for the Wine Pairing Weekend group of writers month?

Find a bottle of wine made from a grape variety you haven’t tried before. Even for a wine geek like me, who by my own estimation tried around 150 grape varieties, that can pose a bit of challenge because there are thousands of the vitis vinefera grape varieties.

Top of mind target-rich environments for me, with an abundance of indigenous grape varieties, are Italy and Portugal.

After doing a quick search at what has become my favorite online wine shop featuring organic and/or biodynamic, minimal intervention producers – Rock Juice, I settled on the 2019 Palazzo Tronconi ‘Fregellae’.

In My Glass

The 2019 Palazzo Tronconi ‘Fregellae’ is a blend of three new-to-me grape varieties – Pampanaro, Maturano, Capolongo. All three are indigenous to the Lazio wine region in central Italy, which is home to the ancient capital city of Rome (see map below for its location) All three grape were recently rediscovered, listed in the National register grapevine of varieties in 2010 explains ItalyAbroad.com

This wine also happens to be from a new-to-me IGT (a.k.a “IGP”) Frusinate.

If you’re not familiar with the Italian wine pyramid, see below:

Rather than think of the wine pyramids as solely a gauge of wine’s quality per se, because it covers a wider geographic region, and has less strict regulations, consider that it also offers winemakers more flexibility (i.e.creativity) with grapes they grow and winemaking.

In this case, the grapes for Frusinate wine must be grown entirely in the province of Frosinone (see map above)

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified biodynamic farming; mixture of clay-limestone soils; 3 weeks maceration and 21 days fermentation in concrete then aged for 12 months in concrete, then 15 months in acacia barrels (500L) and finally allowed to rest 1 year in bottle; bottled unfined/unfiltered with no added SO2; 12% ABV

Tasting Note: Pale gold color with appealing apricot, peach, honey, citrus, and wet stone aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, and dry with bright acidity and the fainted hint of tannins with ripe fresh fruit flavors of apricot and peach with mandarin orange marmalade, and spice complicated with a hint of lychee and stony minerality. SRP – $28

On My Plate

We paired this wonderful skin-fermented white wine (a.k.a. “orange wine) with our take on cicchetti, which are snacks, bites and small plates served in bars in Venice.

Our cicchetti included local Foggy Morning fromage blanc topped with fennel pollen, cheddar cheese, pecorino, charcuterie, olives stuff with anchovies, toasted baguette topped with sardines and apricot curry mustard, nuts, crackers and strawberries.

The wine paired well across our cicchetti, but paired especially well with the sardines (the apricot curry mustard was a great bridge to the flavors of the wine), olives and the fennel pollen topped fromage blanc.

About Palazzo Tronconi

Winemaker Marco Marrocco’s family owned this pristine vineyard land, in a medieval hill town on the border between Lazio and Campania, for generations.  His grandfather basically sold out to international varieties and sold off much of the grapes, but in 2010 Marco, an engineer, took over the 3.5 hectares of vineyard land, returned to school (at age 37) to get his Italian Somm and Oenology degrees, then headed off to make wine in Bordeaux. When he returned to his land a few years later, Marco revived abandoned, ancient vines that had been grown there for centuries. Like these three hyper-local Lazio varietals, featured here in this savory, textural, skin-macerated white wine explains Rock Juice.

In addition to wine, Palazzo Tronconi is an agriturismo with a restaurant and cantina that offers honey, grappa and olive oil. Sounds like my kind of place to visit!

I invite you expand your vinous horizons by learning what new grape varieties my fellow Wine Pairing Weekend writers discovered:

A Little-Cultivated Sicilian Grape Along with a Perennial Favorite – Polpette al Sugo Pomodoro by Culinary Cam

A New Greek Wine with Tzatziki Dip by Cooking Chat

A New Varietal for a New Year by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Mushroom Polenta and a Vin Rouge with Native Grapes by My Full Wine Glass

Red Sparklers: New Year, New Wines from Italy’s Cantina de Frignano by Wine Predator…Gwendolyn Alley

Stuffed Portuguese Peppers and an the Arinto Grape by Our Good Life